Experimental Comparison Between Conventional Solar Still and Additional Inserted Horizontal Solid Circular Fin

Continuous efforts have been dedicated to addressing the relatively low thermal efficiency of conventional single-slope solar stills (CSS). Implementing a heat absorber fin presents a strategic method to reduce heat retention and heat loss during the operation of a solar still. This study aims to improve the performance of CSS by incorporating a horizontal solid circular absorber fin (HSCA). The research was conducted experimentally over five consecutive days at the Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta. The performance of both the CSS with solid HSCA and the traditional CSS were compared in terms of productivity, efficiency, and seawater temperature. The findings indicate that using the HSCA can increase the productivity of the CSS by 21.09%, which is further supported by the higher seawater temperature (Tw) observed in the CSS with a solid HSCA chamber. To evaluate data quality, the total daily production data were analyzed using least squares regression. The regression results provided predictions of daily total productivity, which were then compared and plotted to show their distribution data between experimental and predicted data. The data distribution between the experiment and the prediction model exhibits a 10% error margin compared to the normal data distribution.